First lines of schooling : regius and private teachers in Brazil, 1759-1834.

Abstract

The article presents a brief overview of education in Brazil between 1759 and 1834. Delimited by the creation of the position of Regius teacher and by the decentralization promoted by the Additional Act of 1834, it discusses the process of state control, secularization, and promotion of schooling in the Portuguese America and the independent Brazil. Considering the regional characteristics of the colonial territory, the analyses carried out focus on the Capitania de Minas Gerais [Captaincy of Minas Gerais] because of its economic importance in the context of a “world economy”. The article provides a quantitative assessment of the schooling in various regions of Brazil and presents the profile of the teachers who worked in Mariana, Minas Gerais, contributing to the study of the first lines of school education in the Luso-Brazilian modernity.